carseat uplift

Third baby + first girl = greatest excuse to redo a very loved carseat!  

This was my first carseat I did (Ceri has done a bunch) and I went into it thinking, "no big deal...I'm good with a seam ripper and a sewing machine...I can piece things...no problem." What I didn't expect was that THIS carseat was European...oy vey.  Needless to say it was no Graco.  Lots of pieces...one HUGE carseat puzzle.  In the end it all came together and looked great but I wont lie...I was worried for a bit.

Things I learned:
1.  Never underestimate how much time a "first pancake" project will take.
2. When doing something like this take LOTS AND LOTS of pictures so piecing it back together wont be so difficult
3. The later the hour the more seam ripping will be done...better to say goodnight before silly mistakes start to be made.
4. Always live close by to Ceri so she can bail me out of any sewing crisis...she did the canopy...again..time...I ran out. 
5. Just say no to European projects...period.
6. Check the "die lot" when buying bias tape all "just peachy"'s are not created equal
6. learn how to take better pictures...I'm in awe by so many crafters out there who know how to work a camera.  

The end result turned out awesome and my co-worker loved it! I'm in love with the gray, red, and peach combo.

And for an extra touch...a little cover totally tops it! To make your own go here.

An adorable carseat for an adorable little girl!

Apothecary Console

This was mine and my husband's project over my Spring Break.  We were in the market for a new console and after looking and looking and only finding things that I loved in the $500+ dollar range we needed to come up with a plan B.  Enter Ana White from knock off wood. That woman is amazing.  Matt (my husband) is pretty amazing too.  He just needed me to tell him what I wanted. I was looking through her sight and saw this. gorgeous. It got even better. We could cut the cost by a lot by using my childhood dresser and refurbishing it.

The Before:

Changes:

1. Changed the top because it wasn't real wood that could be sanded down and re-stained

2. Removed and discarded top 3 drawers. Converted to segmented shelves. 

3. Replaced the drawer fronts

4. Painted blue

After:

I'm in love.

total cost: $75 (ish)

What's for Dinner?

I Am Momma Hear Me Roar blogged about these 5 meals in 1 hour.  Ceri and I have jumped aboard and are riding the awesome wave that is 5 meals in 1 hour.  To celebrate this new chapter in my family's dinner life I made this board.

It was a collaborative effort.  I called Ceri up one day on my way to Goodwill with this "dinner plate" idea (mounting plates and using white board markers to write on them) but I needed help on how to mount or hang them.  She came up with the board idea.  genius, yes?  (She totally got the brains of the family) I bought all the supplies then enlisted my husband to do the manual labor of cutting all the wood. Then before I new it it was done and hanging on my wall.  Isn't it beautiful?  I think it would be great as a piece of art too - no writing needed.

Taking pictures of my writing makes me want to go back to elementary school and work on my handwriting! sheesh....

Hopefully Ceri will make hers soon.  I think she's may go with a different color scheme that sounds totally awesome! I can't wait to see how it turns out!

It's good to be back

Over the past few months new babies have made life busy and a few unsuccessful boutiquing has given us a case of the debbie downers.  BUT now that we have more energy (ha!) and a new outlook we're ready to be back.  It's not like we stopped crafting and doing boutiques...we just didn't blog about it. 

We had a great time the past two weekends setting up boutiques in front of our homes.  We got some surprisingly good traffic - but best of all we had some good, quality sister time. This is our spread from yesterday.

These are new: Aprons and Oven Mitts - I love them so much! 

Hair wraps...I honestly wear one in my hair almost every day...(um...take a look at the peg board that they are clipped on...Ceri had just painted it and is now hanging in her craft room as her spool organizer (love, love, love the gray scalloped edges!))

All of our baby/toddler items.  Check out the adorable toddler ties in the middle right.  ADORABLE! Prime looks like such a stud in his!

Some more...

And this is me...I thought Ceri was reviewing some pictures...not taking one and I was being...well...whatever...I like it...

Father's Day

For father's day I made freezer paper Transformer shirts for my man and the kids. (with the help from Ceri, John and the Cricut...saved me A LOT of time with the exacto-knife) I love this metallic paint...I was skeptical at first...but it turned out super cool!

p.s. Rodimus Prime is Optimus Prime's successor...apparently you have to be an ultra nerd to know this....as is my husband...and proud of it!

Thank you bags

I made the first orange bag for a thank you to a friend and loved it so much I had to make more! It's a lot like the other pleated totes but bigger! cool!

The broaches are from this tutorial. super easy and super cute!

ruffle refashion

I need more girlie shirts in my life. Yeah for ruffles!

Before: plain, blah...when i removed the pocket I tore the shirt...my bad...luckily the ruffles covered it - no problem!

I got the idea from Tea Rose Home.
This lady is awesome. I wish I had her figure. And I have got to get my self to Down East to score some of those sales! I didn't follow the tutorial...but the idea is the same